This past week I finished the graphite coat, applying a coat Mon., Tues. and Wed. afternoons. Wednesday night after the last coat had time to stiffen I removed the masking and tape. I allowed it to cure Thursday and sanded the edges on Friday. I then washed and dried the hull, wiped it with denatured alcohol and began taping and masking again. That afternoon I rolled on the first coat of paint, Petit Easypoxy Pearl Gray. I applied the second and third coats yesterday and today. I began painting at noon to give dew in the tent time to evaporate. I am going to let the paint harden for a few days then mask the boat so that I paint the sheer stripe below the rub rail.
Hi Bob - looking GREAT! You have made good progress! By way of education for me, do you mind telling me why you have gone the way of fibreglassing as extensively as you have? I'm leaving my build just as ply and I'm feeling a bit nervous that it will be strong enough - obviously nowhere near as strong as yours, but I'll be way lighter I guess... are you intending using your boat in places where the added strength/protection is necessary? What do you reckon she weighs in at now?
ReplyDeleteThe stitch and tape version calls for taping every hull seam inside and out with fiberglass tape. With the number of seams and the width of the planks at least half of the boat would be covered with glass, so I thought it would be easier to just cover the whole thing in one shot. I used 50" wide cloth and let it overlap on the center which gave me a double layer on the bottom. Also I am quite large ( over 150 kg) so I figured extra glass on the bottom wouldn't hurt. I estimate the weight to be around 70 kg. I can still lift either end solo to reposition the boat on the saw horses, Two people can still easily lift and carry it. Even with all the glass the hull was still very light until I glued the mahogany seats down.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob....Yes of course - that makes a lot of sense and sounds like a great idea. I sometimes wake at night from a dream where I launch my boat and after hitting the first few waves the seams start to come apart! The lands where the planks overlap are only 10-15mm in places and it seems strange not having any fastenings holding it all together. You on the other hand will be phenomenally strong...
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